Nintendo has announced that it will be releasing a New 3DS and New 3DS XL in Japan later this year. While it’s typical for Nintendo to upgrade its handheld consoles frequently, this new update might have some recent 3DS buyers getting buyers remorse. The new handheld consoles will sport bigger screens, better battery life, additional shoulder buttons and a second analog pad called the C-stick. On the standard New 3DS, the Y, X, B and A buttons sport a new color scheme reminiscent of the SNES gamepad.
The game card slot has been moved to the front left side of the console in order to accommodate the new shoulder buttons on the top while the new systems will use Micro SD cards that will be housed underneath the removable cover. Other enhancements to the system include an auto-brightness adjust and eye-tracking for better 3D viewing. Lastly, the New 3DS and 3DS XL will also have a built-in NFC reader and writer on its bottom screens so that they’ll be fully compatible with the company’s new Amiibo figurines.
While the majority of those changes aren’t “must-haves” for some, the company is also outfitting the consoles with a better CPU that will allow it to play exclusive games. So the unfortunate news is that there will be games that can only be played on the New 3DS and New 3DS XL, which will likely cause plenty of confusion with consumers down the road.
